EP1834227A2 - Method and apparatus to manage power consumption of a semiconductor device - Google Patents

Method and apparatus to manage power consumption of a semiconductor device

Info

Publication number
EP1834227A2
EP1834227A2 EP05856955A EP05856955A EP1834227A2 EP 1834227 A2 EP1834227 A2 EP 1834227A2 EP 05856955 A EP05856955 A EP 05856955A EP 05856955 A EP05856955 A EP 05856955A EP 1834227 A2 EP1834227 A2 EP 1834227A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
semiconductor device
reference number
voltage level
required voltage
voltage value
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
EP05856955A
Other languages
German (de)
French (fr)
Inventor
Amit Dor
Charles Roth
Mark Fullerton
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Marvell World Trade Ltd
Original Assignee
Marvell World Trade Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Family has litigation
First worldwide family litigation filed litigation Critical https://patents.darts-ip.com/?family=36441372&utm_source=google_patent&utm_medium=platform_link&utm_campaign=public_patent_search&patent=EP1834227(A2) "Global patent litigation dataset” by Darts-ip is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Application filed by Marvell World Trade Ltd filed Critical Marvell World Trade Ltd
Publication of EP1834227A2 publication Critical patent/EP1834227A2/en
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
    • G06F1/16—Constructional details or arrangements
    • G06F1/20—Cooling means
    • G06F1/206—Cooling means comprising thermal management
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
    • G06F1/26—Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof
    • G06F1/32—Means for saving power
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
    • G06F1/26—Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
    • G06F1/26—Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof
    • G06F1/32—Means for saving power
    • G06F1/3203—Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
    • G06F1/26—Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof
    • G06F1/32—Means for saving power
    • G06F1/3203—Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
    • G06F1/3234—Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
    • G06F1/324—Power saving characterised by the action undertaken by lowering clock frequency
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
    • G06F1/26—Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof
    • G06F1/32—Means for saving power
    • G06F1/3203—Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
    • G06F1/3234—Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
    • G06F1/3296—Power saving characterised by the action undertaken by lowering the supply or operating voltage
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02D—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE
    • Y02D10/00—Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Definitions

  • CMOS complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor
  • SOC system- on-chip
  • CMOS complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor
  • DVM dynamic voltage management
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a wireless communication device according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG 2 is a schematic block diagram of a power management system according to exemplary embodiments of the invention.
  • FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a method to vary an operating voltage of a semiconductor device according to one exemplaiy embodiment of the invention.
  • FIG, 4 is a schematic flowchart of a method to vary an operating voltage of a semiconductor device according to another exemplaiy embodiment of the present invention.
  • the present invention may be used in a variety of applications. Although the present invention is not limited in this respect, the circuits and techniques disclosed herein may be used in many apparatuses such as, for example a hand held devices, battery operated devices wijeless communication devices of a radio system and the like.
  • Wireless communication devices intended to be included within the scope of the present invention include, by way of example only, wireless local area network (WLAN) devices, two-way radio devices, digital radio devices, analog iadio devices, cellular iadiotelephone devices and the like.
  • WLAN wireless local area network
  • Types of hand held devices intended to be within the scope of the present invention include, although aie not limited to, tablet computers, personal data assistance (PDA), portable electronic mail (Email) device, oi the like [0013] Some embodiments of the invention may be implemented, for example, using a machine-readable medium or article which may store an instruction or a set of instructions that, if executed by a machine (foi example, by stations of wireless communication system, and/oi by other suitable machines), cause the machine to perfoim a method and/or operations in accordance with embodiments of the invention.
  • a machine-readable medium or article which may store an instruction or a set of instructions that, if executed by a machine (foi example, by stations of wireless communication system, and/oi by other suitable machines), cause the machine to perfoim a method and/or operations in accordance with embodiments of the invention.
  • Such machine may include, for example, any suitable processing platform, computing platform, computing device, processing device, computing system, processing system, computei, processor, or the like, and may be implemented using any suitable combination of hardware and/or software.
  • the machine-readable medium or article may include, for example, any suitable type of memoiy unit, memory device, memory article, memory medium, storage device, storage aiticle, storage medium and/or storage unit, for example, memory, removable or nonremovable media, erasable or non-erasable media, writeable or re-wi'iteable media, digital or a ⁇ a ⁇ g media, hard disk, floppy disk, Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Compact Disk Recordable (CD-R) 5 Compact Disk Rewriteable (CD- RW), optical disk, magnetic media., various types of Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs), a tape, a cassette, or the like.
  • the instructions may include any suitable type of code, for example, source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, or the like, and may be implemented using any suitable high- level, low-level, object-oriented, visual, compiled and/or interpreted programming language, e.g., C, C++, Java, BASIC, Pascal, Fortran, Cobol, assembly language, machine code, or the like.
  • code for example, source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, or the like
  • suitable high- level, low-level, object-oriented, visual, compiled and/or interpreted programming language e.g., C, C++, Java, BASIC, Pascal, Fortran, Cobol, assembly language, machine code, or the like.
  • wireless communication device XOO may be a cellular mobile device, a wireless device of a wireless local area network (WLAN) and/or a wireless metropolitan area network (WPAN) such as, for example, an access point, a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile computei, a mobile data terminal, and the like.
  • WLAN wireless local area network
  • WPAN wireless metropolitan area network
  • PDA wireless personal digital assistant
  • wireless communication device 100 may include an antenna 110, a semiconductor device 120, a display 130, a speaker 140, a microphone 150, a voltage regulator 160, a powei source 160, and a keyboard 180, although the scope of the present invention is in no way limited to this exemplary embodiment of the invention.
  • semiconductor device 120 may include a system on chip (SOC), which may be capable of performing at least some tasks of a mobile communication device.
  • semiconductor device 120 may include a wireless communication unit 121 capable of operating in a cellular radiotelephone system and/or in a WLAN and/or in a WPAN and/or in piconets and/or in other like systems or n ⁇ twoiks.
  • semiconductor device 120 may include a processor 122, a memory 123, an input/output (I/O) interface unit 124, a power management unit 125, an audio/video unit 126, a display controllei 127 and a frequency generator 128.
  • I/O input/output
  • antenna 3 10 may include one or more antennas and the antennas may include an internal antenna, an antenna array, a dipole antenna, a multi-poles antenna, a multi directional antenna or the like.
  • antenna 110 may be operably coupled to the wireless communication unit 121 and may receive and/or transmit modulated radio frequency (RP) signals.
  • Processor 122 may include a digital signal processoi (DSP) and/or other type of processor and may be operably connected by a bus 129 to the other units of semiconductor device 120, if desired.
  • DSP digital signal processoi
  • I/O interface unit 124 may be operably coupled to keyboard 180 and may transfer keyboard strokes to processor 122, if desired.
  • Memory 123 may include a Flash memory and/oi any other desired type of memory and may be capable of storing applications, operating systems, temporary data values or the like.
  • Audio/Video unit 126 may be coupled to loudspeaker 140 and macophone 150 and may process audio signals.
  • audio/video unit 126 may include a graphic processor and may be coupled to a camera or video camera (not shown) and may be able to process images and/or video which may be displayed on display 130, if desired.
  • Display controller 127 may control display 130, which may include a liquid crystal display and/or any other type of graphic or alphanumeric display, if desired.
  • frequency generator 128 may generate a desired clock frequency of semiconductor device 120.
  • the clock frequency may be varied to control a power consumption of semiconductoi device 120.
  • Power management unit 125 may receive from bus 129 a reference number, which may be related to the clock frequency and may be used as a basis for varying an operating voltage of semiconductor device 120 by converting the reference number to a voltage value. Power management unit 125 may provide the voltage value to voltage regulator 160 which may set the voltage of semiconductor device 120 according to this value, if desired.
  • semiconductor device 120 may include a software and/or hardware and/or any combination of hardware and software that may translate a required operating frequency of the semiconductor device 120 into corresponding reference numbers related to a required operating frequency and/or a required operating voltage level of the semiconductor device
  • the reference numbers may be further manipulated by software and/or hardware and/or any combination of hardware and software to provide a required voltage value, if desired
  • FIG. 2 a block diagram of a portion of a power management system 200 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, power management system 200 may be capable of controlling power consumption of semiconductor device 120. In this exemplary embodiment of the invention, power management system 200 may be implemented within semiconductor device 120, It should be understood that power management system 200 may be implemented by hardware and/or software and/or any suitable combination of hardware and software.
  • power management system 200 may include one or more frequency control registers 220, which may control an operating frequency of semiconductor device 120; one or more mapping registers 230, which may map a frequency range to a voltage level; one or more voltage setting registers 240, which may set the voltage level to a voltage value; a voltage level decoder 250; a voltage value decoder 260; and a power management unit 270.
  • memories and/or look up tables and/or a software functions and/oi hardware units and the like may be used to fulfill functions of frequency control registers 220, mapping registers 230 and voltage setting registers 240, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect,
  • a bus 280 may provide values from different units of semiconductor device 120 to registers 220, 230 and 240
  • processor 122 of FIG. 1 may provide a required operating frequency value to frequency control registers 220.
  • Frequency control registeis 220 may provide the required operating frequency value to frequency generator 128, which may set the required operating frequency of semiconductor device 120.
  • frequency control registers 220 may provide the required operating frequency value to power management unit 270 and to decoder 250.
  • the semiconductor device may include two or more processors and/oi othe ⁇ units that may lequiie different operating frequencies, which may be piovided to frequency control registers 220, if desired.
  • processor 122 may provide a iange of frequency values to mapping registers 230.
  • Mapping iegisters 230 may map a range of frequency values to a required voltage level.
  • the required voltage level value may be a reference number related to a voltage level, e-g,, high, medium or low voltage levels.
  • the refeience number may be related to first, second, third, forth voltage level and the like.
  • Mapping registers 230 may match between a range of frequencies and the reference number that relates to the voltage level, if desired.
  • Voltage level decoder 250 may assign a reference number to the required voltage level according to the required operating frequency.
  • setting registers 240 may match one or more voltage values to the required voltage level and may provide a matched voltage value to voltage value decoder 260, if desired.
  • Voltage value decoder 260 may decode the required voltage value from the reference number (e.g. the required voltage level) and the matched voltage value
  • power management unit 270 may receive the required voltage and the required operating frequency and may set an exteinal voltage iegulator (e.g. voltage regulator 160) to provide the required voltage to semiconductor device 120
  • an operating voltage range of semiconductor device may include a subrange of a 0.5V to 1.8V range.
  • An operating frequency range may vary, e.g., from a few MHz to about one Gigahertz, if desired.
  • the power may be calculated according to the formula Vz* C ⁇ V ⁇ H' F, where C may be the charged capacitance on every toggle of a gate of semiconductor device 120, V may represent a supply voltage of semiconductor device 120 and F may represent an operating frequency, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.
  • a frequency controller 290 may provide a required frequency value to frequency control registers 220 (shown with dotted line).
  • Frequency controller 290 which may include a hardware unit, may monitor the power consumption of units and/or components and/or cores of semiconductor device 120, and may vary frequencies of those units and/or components and/or cores to the required frequency, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.
  • a monitor 295 may monitor a temperature of the semiconductor device, a process skew or any other property that may be determined, e.g., automatically, by circuits of the semiconductor device. Monitor 295 may provide indications of the monitored properties to decoder 260 which may decode the required voltage value according to the required voltage level. Voltage value decoder 260 may be capable of manipulating a reference number with the one or more monitored properties, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.
  • FIG 3 a flowchart of a method to vary an operating voltage of a semiconductor device according to exemplary embodiments of Hie present invention is shown.
  • power management system 200 may employ one or more methods and/or algorithms and/or mechanisms to vary the operating voltage of semiconductor device 120, if desired
  • power management system 200 may receive a required voltage level e.g., from decoder 250 (text block 300).
  • the request may receive when for example, an operating frequency have been changed, or if one or more environmental parameters such as, for example a temperature, have been changed (text block 310).
  • the required voltage value may be determined, for example, by decoder 260 (text block 320), and power management unit 270 may drive a voltage change sequence to be executed by an external voltage regular, for example, voltage regulator 160 of FIG.
  • the semiconductor device may include a system on a chip, for example, on semiconductor device 120 of FIG. 1.
  • the semiconductor device may include a processor (e g. processor 122) that may operate a software application to control power consumption characteristics of the semiconductor device (e.g. semiconductor device 120).
  • the software application may request a frequency change and, in some embodiments of the invention, a frequency change request may be made by hardware, if desired (text block 400).
  • a power management system of the semiconductor device may determine if the required frequency change may be higher then an operating frequency of the semiconductor device (text block 410).
  • the software may use frequency control registers (e g, fiequency control registers 220) to vary the frequency, if desired.
  • the power management system may determine the required voltage level (text box 420) and, if the requiicd voltage level is higher then a current voltage level (text box 430), the software and or the hardware may call a voltage change task (text box 430).
  • the voltage change task may control a power management unit (e.g. power management unit 270) to change the voltage of the semiconductor device.
  • the method may end by changing the operating frequency of the semiconductor device to the required frequency (text box 450)
  • the software application may set frequency generator 128 of FIG.
  • the required frequency may be lower than the operating frequency (text box 410) and the software may change the operating frequency to the required frequency (text box 460).
  • the required frequency level may be lower then the current frequency level (text box 480) and the software may call the voltage change task to change the voltage of the semiconductor device according to the required voltage level (text box 490)
  • the voltage change task may wait for an acknowledge (ACK) signal from the power management unit (e.g. power management unit 220) as is shown in text blocks 440 and 450, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.
  • ACK acknowledge

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
  • Power Sources (AREA)
  • Semiconductor Integrated Circuits (AREA)
  • Transceivers (AREA)
  • Testing Or Measuring Of Semiconductors Or The Like (AREA)

Abstract

A method and apparatus of a power management system of a semiconductor device capable of managing a power consumption of the semiconductor device by varying an operating voltage of the semiconductor device according to a voltage value based on a reference number.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS TO MANAGE POWER CONSUMPTION OF A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] Semiconductor devices are commonly referred to in the art as "chips", Some semiconductor devices may include micio-electronic systems. For example, a system- on-chip (SOC) may include a graphic controller, a processor, a modem, one or more wireless communication units, an input/output interface unit, a display controller, a digital signal processor, one or more memories, or the like. Systems-on-chip may be used, for example, in battery operated devices and/or low power devices, and may include a dynamic voltage management (DVM) mechanism to control a power consumption of system-on-chip or other elements of the battery operated and/or low power device.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0002] The subject matter regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. The invention, however, both as to organization and method of operation, together with objects, featuies and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following detailed description when read with the accompanied drawings in which:
[0003] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a wireless communication device according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention;
[0004] FIG 2 is a schematic block diagram of a power management system according to exemplary embodiments of the invention;
[0005] FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a method to vary an operating voltage of a semiconductor device according to one exemplaiy embodiment of the invention; and
[0006] FIG, 4 is a schematic flowchart of a method to vary an operating voltage of a semiconductor device according to another exemplaiy embodiment of the present invention.
[0007] It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figuies have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repealed among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0008] In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components and ciicuits have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the present invention.
[0009] Some portions of the detailed description, which follow, are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits or binary digital signals within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations may be the techniques used by those skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance of their work to otheis skilled in the art. [0010] Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the specification discussions utilizing terms such as "processing," "computing," "calculating;' "determining," or the like, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computing system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulate and/or transform data repiesented as physical, such as electronic, quantities within the computing system's registers and/or memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computing system's memories, registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices In addition, the term "plurality" may be used throughout the specification to describe two or more components, devices, elements, parameters and the like. For example, "plurality of mobile stations"' describes two or more mobile stations.
[0031] It should be understood that the present invention may be used in a variety of applications. Although the present invention is not limited in this respect, the circuits and techniques disclosed herein may be used in many apparatuses such as, for example a hand held devices, battery operated devices wijeless communication devices of a radio system and the like. Wireless communication devices intended to be included within the scope of the present invention include, by way of example only, wireless local area network (WLAN) devices, two-way radio devices, digital radio devices, analog iadio devices, cellular iadiotelephone devices and the like. [0012] Types of hand held devices intended to be within the scope of the present invention include, although aie not limited to, tablet computers, personal data assistance (PDA), portable electronic mail (Email) device, oi the like [0013] Some embodiments of the invention may be implemented, for example, using a machine-readable medium or article which may store an instruction or a set of instructions that, if executed by a machine (foi example, by stations of wireless communication system, and/oi by other suitable machines), cause the machine to perfoim a method and/or operations in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Such machine may include, for example, any suitable processing platform, computing platform, computing device, processing device, computing system, processing system, computei, processor, or the like, and may be implemented using any suitable combination of hardware and/or software. The machine-readable medium or article may include, for example, any suitable type of memoiy unit, memory device, memory article, memory medium, storage device, storage aiticle, storage medium and/or storage unit, for example, memory, removable or nonremovable media, erasable or non-erasable media, writeable or re-wi'iteable media, digital or aπaϋσg media, hard disk, floppy disk, Compact Disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), Compact Disk Recordable (CD-R)5 Compact Disk Rewriteable (CD- RW), optical disk, magnetic media., various types of Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs), a tape, a cassette, or the like. The instructions may include any suitable type of code, for example, source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, or the like, and may be implemented using any suitable high- level, low-level, object-oriented, visual, compiled and/or interpreted programming language, e.g., C, C++, Java, BASIC, Pascal, Fortran, Cobol, assembly language, machine code, or the like.
[0014] Turning to FIG. 1, a wπeless communication device 100 in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the invention is shown Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, wireless communication device XOO may be a cellular mobile device, a wireless device of a wireless local area network (WLAN) and/or a wireless metropolitan area network (WPAN) such as, for example, an access point, a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile computei, a mobile data terminal, and the like. [0015] According io the exemplary embodiment shown in Fig. 1, wireless communication device 100 may include an antenna 110, a semiconductor device 120, a display 130, a speaker 140, a microphone 150, a voltage regulator 160, a powei source 160, and a keyboard 180, although the scope of the present invention is in no way limited to this exemplary embodiment of the invention.
[0016] Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, in some embodiments of the invention, semiconductor device 120 may include a system on chip (SOC), which may be capable of performing at least some tasks of a mobile communication device. For example, semiconductor device 120 may include a wireless communication unit 121 capable of operating in a cellular radiotelephone system and/or in a WLAN and/or in a WPAN and/or in piconets and/or in other like systems or nεtwoiks. In addition, semiconductor device 120 may include a processor 122, a memory 123, an input/output (I/O) interface unit 124, a power management unit 125, an audio/video unit 126, a display controllei 127 and a frequency generator 128.
[0017] Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, antenna 3 10 may include one or more antennas and the antennas may include an internal antenna, an antenna array, a dipole antenna, a multi-poles antenna, a multi directional antenna or the like. In some embodiments of the invention, antenna 110 may be operably coupled to the wireless communication unit 121 and may receive and/or transmit modulated radio frequency (RP) signals. Processor 122 may include a digital signal processoi (DSP) and/or other type of processor and may be operably connected by a bus 129 to the other units of semiconductor device 120, if desired. [0018] In some exemplary embodiments of the present invention, I/O interface unit 124 may be operably coupled to keyboard 180 and may transfer keyboard strokes to processor 122, if desired. Memory 123 may include a Flash memory and/oi any other desired type of memory and may be capable of storing applications, operating systems, temporary data values or the like. Audio/Video unit 126 may be coupled to loudspeaker 140 and miciophone 150 and may process audio signals. In addition, in some other embodiments of the invention audio/video unit 126 may include a graphic processor and may be coupled to a camera or video camera (not shown) and may be able to process images and/or video which may be displayed on display 130, if desired. Display controller 127 may control display 130, which may include a liquid crystal display and/or any other type of graphic or alphanumeric display, if desired. [0019] Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, frequency generator 128 may generate a desired clock frequency of semiconductor device 120. According to some embodiments of the invention the clock frequency may be varied to control a power consumption of semiconductoi device 120. Power management unit 125 may receive from bus 129 a reference number, which may be related to the clock frequency and may be used as a basis for varying an operating voltage of semiconductor device 120 by converting the reference number to a voltage value. Power management unit 125 may provide the voltage value to voltage regulator 160 which may set the voltage of semiconductor device 120 according to this value, if desired.
[0020] Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, in some embodiment of the invention semiconductor device 120 may include a software and/or hardware and/or any combination of hardware and software that may translate a required operating frequency of the semiconductor device 120 into corresponding reference numbers related to a required operating frequency and/or a required operating voltage level of the semiconductor device The reference numbers may be further manipulated by software and/or hardware and/or any combination of hardware and software to provide a required voltage value, if desired
[0021] Turning to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a portion of a power management system 200 according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, power management system 200 may be capable of controlling power consumption of semiconductor device 120. In this exemplary embodiment of the invention, power management system 200 may be implemented within semiconductor device 120, It should be understood that power management system 200 may be implemented by hardware and/or software and/or any suitable combination of hardware and software. [0022] Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, power management system 200 may include one or more frequency control registers 220, which may control an operating frequency of semiconductor device 120; one or more mapping registers 230, which may map a frequency range to a voltage level; one or more voltage setting registers 240, which may set the voltage level to a voltage value; a voltage level decoder 250; a voltage value decoder 260; and a power management unit 270.
[0023] Although the scope of the present invention is not limited to this respect, it should be understood that in some embodiments of the present invention, memories and/or look up tables and/or a software functions and/oi hardware units and the like may be used to fulfill functions of frequency control registers 220, mapping registers 230 and voltage setting registers 240, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect,
[0024] Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, in some embodiments of the invention, a bus 280 may provide values from different units of semiconductor device 120 to registers 220, 230 and 240 For example, processor 122 of FIG. 1 may provide a required operating frequency value to frequency control registers 220. Frequency control registeis 220 may provide the required operating frequency value to frequency generator 128, which may set the required operating frequency of semiconductor device 120. In addition, frequency control registers 220 may provide the required operating frequency value to power management unit 270 and to decoder 250.
[0025] Additionally or alternatively, the semiconductor device may include two or more processors and/oi otheτ units that may lequiie different operating frequencies, which may be piovided to frequency control registers 220, if desired. [0026] According to one exemplary embodiment of the invention, processor 122 may provide a iange of frequency values to mapping registers 230. Mapping iegisters 230 may map a range of frequency values to a required voltage level. For example, the required voltage level value may be a reference number related to a voltage level, e-g,, high, medium or low voltage levels. In another exemplary embodiment, the refeience number may be related to first, second, third, forth voltage level and the like. Mapping registers 230 may match between a range of frequencies and the reference number that relates to the voltage level, if desired. Voltage level decoder 250 may assign a reference number to the required voltage level according to the required operating frequency.
[0027] Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, setting registers 240 may match one or more voltage values to the required voltage level and may provide a matched voltage value to voltage value decoder 260, if desired. Voltage value decoder 260 may decode the required voltage value from the reference number (e.g. the required voltage level) and the matched voltage value According to some embodiments of the invention, power management unit 270 may receive the required voltage and the required operating frequency and may set an exteinal voltage iegulator (e.g. voltage regulator 160) to provide the required voltage to semiconductor device 120
[0028] Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, for example, an operating voltage range of semiconductor device may include a subrange of a 0.5V to 1.8V range. An operating frequency range may vary, e.g., from a few MHz to about one Gigahertz, if desired In some embodiments of the invention, the power may be calculated according to the formula Vz* CΛ V~H'F, where C may be the charged capacitance on every toggle of a gate of semiconductor device 120, V may represent a supply voltage of semiconductor device 120 and F may represent an operating frequency, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.
[0029] According to some other embodiments of the present invention, a frequency controller 290 may provide a required frequency value to frequency control registers 220 (shown with dotted line). Frequency controller 290, which may include a hardware unit, may monitor the power consumption of units and/or components and/or cores of semiconductor device 120, and may vary frequencies of those units and/or components and/or cores to the required frequency, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.
[0030] In addition, a monitor 295 (shown with dotted line) may monitor a temperature of the semiconductor device, a process skew or any other property that may be determined, e.g., automatically, by circuits of the semiconductor device. Monitor 295 may provide indications of the monitored properties to decoder 260 which may decode the required voltage value according to the required voltage level. Voltage value decoder 260 may be capable of manipulating a reference number with the one or more monitored properties, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.
[0031 ] Turning to FIG 3, a flowchart of a method to vary an operating voltage of a semiconductor device according to exemplary embodiments of Hie present invention is shown. Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, for example, power management system 200 may employ one or more methods and/or algorithms and/or mechanisms to vary the operating voltage of semiconductor device 120, if desired
[0032] According to one embodiment of the invention, power management system 200 may receive a required voltage level e.g., from decoder 250 (text block 300). For example, the request may receive when for example, an operating frequency have been changed, or if one or more environmental parameters such as, for example a temperature, have been changed (text block 310). The required voltage value may be determined, for example, by decoder 260 (text block 320), and power management unit 270 may drive a voltage change sequence to be executed by an external voltage regular, for example, voltage regulator 160 of FIG. 1, if desired (text block 330) [0033] Turning to FlG, 4, a flowchart of a method to vary an operating voltage of a semiconductor device according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown Although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect, the semiconductor device may include a system on a chip, for example, on semiconductor device 120 of FIG. 1. Furthermore, the semiconductor device may include a processor (e g. processor 122) that may operate a software application to control power consumption characteristics of the semiconductor device (e.g. semiconductor device 120). In one embodiment of the invention, the software application may request a frequency change and, in some embodiments of the invention, a frequency change request may be made by hardware, if desired (text block 400). A power management system of the semiconductor device may determine if the required frequency change may be higher then an operating frequency of the semiconductor device (text block 410). For example, in some embodiments of the invention the software may use frequency control registers (e g, fiequency control registers 220) to vary the frequency, if desired.
[0034] According to some embodiments of the invention, the power management system may determine the required voltage level (text box 420) and, if the requiicd voltage level is higher then a current voltage level (text box 430), the software and or the hardware may call a voltage change task (text box 430). For example, in some embodiments of the invention the voltage change task may control a power management unit (e.g. power management unit 270) to change the voltage of the semiconductor device. In this exemplary embodiment of the invention, the method may end by changing the operating frequency of the semiconductor device to the required frequency (text box 450) For example, the software application may set frequency generator 128 of FIG. 1 to the required frequency, if desiied [0035] Although the scope of the present is not limited to this exemplary embodiment of the invention, the required frequency may be lower than the operating frequency (text box 410) and the software may change the operating frequency to the required frequency (text box 460). Accoiding to this embodiment of the invention, the required frequency level may be lower then the current frequency level (text box 480) and the software may call the voltage change task to change the voltage of the semiconductor device according to the required voltage level (text box 490) In some embodiments of the invention the voltage change task may wait for an acknowledge (ACK) signal from the power management unit (e.g. power management unit 220) as is shown in text blocks 440 and 450, although the scope of the present invention is not limited in this respect.
[0036] While certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes, and equivalents will now occur to those skilled in the art It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.

Claims

[0037] What is claimed is:
1. A method comprising: generating a reference number related to one or more voltage levels; and managing a power consumption of a semiconductor device by varying an operating voltage of the semiconductor device according to a required voltage value based on the reference number
2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating comprises: mapping a required voltage level according to a range of frequency values; and decoding the required voltage level and an operating frequency of the semiconductor device to provide the reference number,
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating comprises: decoding a required voltage level and operating frequencies of two or more units of the semiconductor device to provide the reference number.
4. The method of claim 1 , comprising: decoding the reference number to produce the required voltage value according to the lequired voltage level.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein decoding the voltage level comprises: manipulating the reference number with a property of the semiconductor device to provide the required voltage value.
6. A semiconductor device comprising: a power management unit capable of managing a power consumption of the semiconductor device by varying an operating voltage of the semiconductor device according to a required voltage value based on a reference number, wherein the reference number related to one or more voltage levels.
7. The semiconductor device of claim 6, comprising: a mapping registers to map a required voltage level according to a range of frequency values; and a voltage level decoder to decode the required voltage level and an operating frequency of the semiconductor device to provide the reference number.
8. The semiconductor device of claim 7, wherein the voltage level decoder is capable of decoding a required voltage level and operating frequencies of two or more units of the semiconductor device to provide the reference number.
9. The semiconductor device of claim 6, comprising: a voltage value decoder to decode the reference number and to produce a required voltage value according to the required voltage level.
10. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein the voltage level decoder is capable of manipulating the reference number with a property of the semiconductor device to provide the required voltage value.
U
11, An apparatus comprising: a power management unit able to vary a voltage of the apparatus according to a required voltage value related to a reference number based on a required voltage level, wherein the required voltage level is i elated to a required operating frequency of the apparatus.
12 The apparatus of claim 11, comprising: one or more frequency control registers to provide a requiied operating frequency value; one or more mapping registers to map a iange of fiequency values to the required voltage level; and a voltage level decoder to assign the reference number to the required voltage level according to the required operating frequency value
13. The apparatus of claim 11, comprising: one or more setting registers to match one or more voltage values to the required voltage level to provide a matched voltage value; and a voltage value decoder to decode the required voltage value from the reference number and the matched voltage value.
14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the voltage value decoder is capable of manipulating the reference number with one or more properties of the apparatus to produce the voltage value,
15. A hand held device comprising: a voltage regulator to provide a voltage value of a semiconductor device, wherein the semiconductor device includes a power management unit able to vary a voltage of the voltage iegulator according to a required voltage value related to a reference number based on a required voltage level, wherein the required voltage level is related to a required operating frequency of the apparatus.
16. The hand held device of claim 15, wherein the semiconductor device comprises: one or more frequency control registers to piovide a required operating frequency value; one or more mapping registers to map a range of frequency values to the required voltage level; and a voltage level decodei to assign the reference number to the required voltage level according to the required operating frequency value
17. The hand held device of claim 15, wherein the semiconductor device comprises: one or more setting registers to match one or more voltage values to the required voltage level to provide a matched voltage value; and a voltage value decoder to decode the required voltage value from the reference numbei and the matched voltage value.
18. The hand held device of claim 17, wherein the voltage value decoder is capable of manipulating the reference number with one or more properties of the semiconductor device to produce the voltage value.
19. An article comprising a storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, result in: generating a reference number related to one or more voltage levels; and managing a power consumption of a semiconductor device by varying an operating voltage of the semiconductor device according to a required voltage value based on the reference number.
20. The Article of claim 19, wherein the instruction of generating when executed, results in: mapping a required voltage level according to a range of frequency values; and decoding the required voltage level and an operating frequency of the semiconductor device to provide the reference number.
21. The Article of claim 19, wherein the instruction of generating when executed, results in: decoding a required voltage level and operating frequencies of two or more units of the semiconductor device to provide the reference number.
22. The Article of claim 19, the instructions when executed, result in: decoding the reference number to produce the required voltage value according to the required voltage level.
23. The Article of claim 19, wherein the instruction of decoding the voltage level when executed, results in: manipulating the reference number with a property of the semiconductor device to provide the requiied voltage value.
EP05856955A 2004-12-20 2005-11-15 Method and apparatus to manage power consumption of a semiconductor device Ceased EP1834227A2 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US11/014,805 US7379718B2 (en) 2004-12-20 2004-12-20 Method and apparatus to manage power consumption of a semiconductor device
PCT/US2005/041212 WO2006068730A2 (en) 2004-12-20 2005-11-15 Method and apparatus to manage power consumption of a semiconductor device

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1834227A2 true EP1834227A2 (en) 2007-09-19

Family

ID=36441372

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP05856955A Ceased EP1834227A2 (en) 2004-12-20 2005-11-15 Method and apparatus to manage power consumption of a semiconductor device

Country Status (6)

Country Link
US (2) US7379718B2 (en)
EP (1) EP1834227A2 (en)
JP (1) JP5060305B2 (en)
KR (1) KR100931030B1 (en)
CN (1) CN100555166C (en)
WO (1) WO2006068730A2 (en)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN102045983B (en) * 2009-10-09 2013-07-24 马小康 Radiating module and manufacturing method thereof

Families Citing this family (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US7603575B2 (en) * 2005-06-30 2009-10-13 Woodbridge Nancy G Frequency-dependent voltage control in digital logic
US8001407B2 (en) 2006-10-31 2011-08-16 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Server configured for managing power and performance
CN101866213B (en) * 2010-07-23 2012-05-23 上海交通大学 Energy-saving method of embedded system with SPM-DMA (Sequential Processing Machine-Direct Memory Access) structure
US8843774B2 (en) * 2010-08-20 2014-09-23 Qualcomm Incorporated Method and apparatus for managing battery power in response to an indication of an application being scheduled for immediate execution
KR101009445B1 (en) * 2010-11-24 2011-01-19 주식회사 넥스트솔루션 Apparutus for housing tray-cover for tester-handler
US8787381B2 (en) * 2011-06-08 2014-07-22 Broadcom Corporation Quality of service, battery lifetime, and latency in wireless communication devices
EP2891379B1 (en) * 2012-08-30 2019-07-31 University of Virginia Patent Foundation, D/B/A University of Virginia Ultra low power sensing platform with multimodal radios
US9835594B2 (en) 2012-10-22 2017-12-05 Augury Systems Ltd. Automatic mechanical system diagnosis
US9471072B1 (en) 2013-11-14 2016-10-18 Western Digital Technologies, Inc Self-adaptive voltage scaling
US11493482B2 (en) 2016-10-10 2022-11-08 Augury Systems Ltd. Systems and methods for acoustic emission monitoring of semiconductor devices
US11295803B2 (en) * 2019-08-30 2022-04-05 Qualcomm Incorporated Memory with dynamic voltage scaling
CN110703998B (en) * 2019-09-29 2021-11-09 百度在线网络技术（北京）有限公司 Control method of memory, controller, chip and electronic equipment

Family Cites Families (15)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US6141762A (en) * 1998-08-03 2000-10-31 Nicol; Christopher J. Power reduction in a multiprocessor digital signal processor based on processor load
US6415388B1 (en) 1998-10-30 2002-07-02 Intel Corporation Method and apparatus for power throttling in a microprocessor using a closed loop feedback system
US6425086B1 (en) * 1999-04-30 2002-07-23 Intel Corporation Method and apparatus for dynamic power control of a low power processor
TW478014B (en) * 1999-08-31 2002-03-01 Semiconductor Energy Lab Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing thereof
US6542205B2 (en) * 2000-08-04 2003-04-01 Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. Display device
JP2002319679A (en) * 2001-04-20 2002-10-31 Semiconductor Energy Lab Co Ltd Semiconductor device
US6828584B2 (en) * 2001-05-18 2004-12-07 Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing the same
US6897477B2 (en) * 2001-06-01 2005-05-24 Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. Semiconductor device, manufacturing method thereof, and display device
US6768358B2 (en) * 2001-08-29 2004-07-27 Analog Devices, Inc. Phase locked loop fast power up methods and apparatus
US6823240B2 (en) 2001-12-12 2004-11-23 Intel Corporation Operating system coordinated thermal management
US6944780B1 (en) 2002-01-19 2005-09-13 National Semiconductor Corporation Adaptive voltage scaling clock generator for use in a digital processing component and method of operating the same
US7941675B2 (en) * 2002-12-31 2011-05-10 Burr James B Adaptive power control
US6996730B2 (en) * 2002-11-25 2006-02-07 Texas Instruments Incorporated Adjusting voltage supplied to a processor in response to clock frequency
US7228242B2 (en) 2002-12-31 2007-06-05 Transmeta Corporation Adaptive power control based on pre package characterization of integrated circuits
JP4521546B2 (en) * 2003-01-24 2010-08-11 ルネサスエレクトロニクス株式会社 Semiconductor integrated circuit device

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
None *

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN102045983B (en) * 2009-10-09 2013-07-24 马小康 Radiating module and manufacturing method thereof

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
US20080224685A1 (en) 2008-09-18
WO2006068730A3 (en) 2007-02-15
KR100931030B1 (en) 2009-12-10
US7379718B2 (en) 2008-05-27
CN100555166C (en) 2009-10-28
JP2008524844A (en) 2008-07-10
KR20070097451A (en) 2007-10-04
US8112048B2 (en) 2012-02-07
CN101084479A (en) 2007-12-05
US20060135094A1 (en) 2006-06-22
JP5060305B2 (en) 2012-10-31
WO2006068730A2 (en) 2006-06-29

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
US8112048B2 (en) Method and apparatus to manage power consumption of a semiconductor device
US8775836B2 (en) Method, apparatus and system to save processor state for efficient transition between processor power states
US8209480B2 (en) DRAM selective self refresh
US9122464B2 (en) Method, apparatus, and system for energy efficiency and energy conservation including energy efficient processor thermal throttling using deep power down mode
US20040025061A1 (en) Method and system for power reduction
TWI744289B (en) A central processing unit (cpu)-based system and method for providing memory bandwidth compression using multiple last-level cache (llc) lines
US7685445B2 (en) Per die voltage programming for energy efficient integrated circuit (IC) operation
US20060121936A1 (en) Portable computing device adapted to update display information while in a low power mode
MX2010006685A (en) Adapting word line pulse widths in memory systems.
US9823854B2 (en) Priority-based access of compressed memory lines in memory in a processor-based system
US20040128382A1 (en) Method and apparatus for adjusting resource availability based on power availability
US10482021B2 (en) Priority-based storage and access of compressed memory lines in memory in a processor-based system
WO2013095639A1 (en) Utility and lifetime based cache replacement policy
US8281083B2 (en) Device, system and method of generating an execution instruction based on a memory-access instruction
US20160202746A1 (en) Indicating critical battery status in mobile devices
US9720830B2 (en) Systems and methods facilitating reduced latency via stashing in system on chips
US9817759B2 (en) Multi-core CPU system for adjusting L2 cache character, method thereof, and devices having the same
JPH05210601A (en) Method and device for transmitting signal
US20040128445A1 (en) Cache memory and methods thereof
US20160239218A1 (en) Bifurcated memory management for memory elements
US20100057656A1 (en) Device, system, and method of determining a solution scheme of a poly-algorithm solver
KR101458928B1 (en) Method for filtering traffic to a physically-tagged data cache
US7533232B2 (en) Accessing data from different memory locations in the same cycle
WO2012087566A2 (en) Method, apparatus and system to save processor state for efficient transition between processor power states

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
PUAI Public reference made under article 153(3) epc to a published international application that has entered the european phase

Free format text: ORIGINAL CODE: 0009012

17P Request for examination filed

Effective date: 20070524

AK Designated contracting states

Kind code of ref document: A2

Designated state(s): AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HU IE IS IT LI LT LU LV MC NL PL PT RO SE SI SK TR

RIN1 Information on inventor provided before grant (corrected)

Inventor name: ROTH, CHARLES

Inventor name: DOR, AMIT

Inventor name: FULLERTON, MARK

DAX Request for extension of the european patent (deleted)
REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: HK

Ref legal event code: DE

Ref document number: 1113696

Country of ref document: HK

17Q First examination report despatched

Effective date: 20101206

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: DE

Ref legal event code: R003

STAA Information on the status of an ep patent application or granted ep patent

Free format text: STATUS: THE APPLICATION HAS BEEN REFUSED

18R Application refused

Effective date: 20180918

REG Reference to a national code

Ref country code: HK

Ref legal event code: WD

Ref document number: 1113696

Country of ref document: HK